Tawatawa News

5 December 2025

He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa
Bonjour à toutes nos familles

Library update

Our beautiful new whare pukapuka is beginning to take shape. Most of our shelving has been installed, and we're in the process of collecting and sorting through our current collection as well as cataloguing many beautiful new books. We will also be receiving a donation of hundreds of books from Cardinal McKeefry School which is sadly closing down. Tawatawa - Ridgway students will have access to our new library from the start of term 1 2026. 

An awesome group of parents have very kindly given their time to support our library by covering books over the last few months. This extends the life of our new library books by 3 or 4 times, and so protects our kura's investment. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou - massive thanks to Jeanne-Marie, Bonnie, Anita, Gabriela, Frances, Sheila, Laura, Alice, Aly, Fleur, Katherine and Thomas, Zuleika, Amanda, Sophie, Carla, Breila and Sherwin, Michelle and Josh, Tasha, Lisa and Janna. We are really grateful for your help.

Ridgway Reboot

The numbers are in!  We raised $3,700 which was a fantastic amount of money and will buy loads of brand spanking new books (that will need to be covered, luckily we know a few people who are great at that, see above.)  For us though, the Reboot was about something more than making money. It was about bringing our cool community together and celebrating the Ridgway vibe!  Again, a massive thank you to everyone who helped, had a stall, or came along and hung out! We are lucky to be part of such an awesome community.  

Statements for the year

We’d love to tidy up all the payments for the year, so if the school donation is in the realms of possibility for your family, we’d love to have it before the end of term.  

End of Year Achievement Summaries

These will be coming out in the last week of term. These written reports include the achieved level in reading, writing and maths, a star comment, how your child went with our school values, a photo and a reflection. 

While written reports focus on literacy and mathematics, children are learning across a wide range of areas throughout the year.  Teachers share classroom learning through blog posts, which give parents a window into activities, discoveries, projects, and celebrations that aren’t included in the formal written reports. We encourage parents to check these class blogs to see the broader, day-to-day learning their children are engaged in.

Next year we will move to Hero, a new learning management and reporting platform. This year is a transition year for reporting as we shift from real-time notifications (that we have used in previous years) to the new Ministry reporting requirements and the new reporting system, Hero.

Hero will allow us to provide clearer, more streamlined information about student progress over time, while still giving families access to examples of learning and curriculum coverage in a way that is easy to follow.

We will share more details with families early next year about what Hero will look like, how to use it, and what to expect in terms of reporting

Newsletter from the Board

Get your Board newsletter here, hot off the press! 

Upcoming Events

• 12 December - Junior Final Assembly and farewell to Jonathan (9.15) and Senior Final Assembly (2.15)

• 15 December - Water fight on the field

• 17 December - Last day of school, 2pm finish.

• 18 - 23 December - Rascals is running

• 19 January - Rascals starts up

• 4 February - First day of Term 1

• 6 February - Waitangi Day: School closed